State notice on TechCity site pollution cleanup effort cheers officials

TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. -- State Department of Environmental Conservation officials have notified TechCity officials that remediation efforts are satisfactory for seven of 10 areas of contamination caused by IBM when the site was used as a computer manufacturing facility.

TechCity officials said in a press release the notice will provide assurances that clients will be safe when leasing space in the facility along Enterprise Drive.

"This is a major milestone for TechCity, which has the potential to be a powerful economic engine for the region," TechCity Chief Executive Officer Alan Ginsberg said. "Achieving the necessary DEC approvals was our most urgent priority. TechCity's 191 acres and 1.7 million square feet of office space are clean and ready for development."

State officials wrote in the notice that areas in question utilize "permanent solutions and alternative treatment, or resource recovery technologies, to the maximum extent practicable, and satisfies the preferences for remedies that reduce toxicity, mobility, or volume" of contamination.

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Ginsberg considers the notice means that TechCity has been given a "clean bill of health" by the state.

The state notice deals with 12 sections of the site dealing with solid waste cleanup and three areas of concern for groundwater and soil contamination. Included are findings that problems of PCBs in an elevator shaft in Building 202 have been dealt with and pose no risk; that the area near two removed tetracholorethene tanks will be monitored for continuing groundwater contamination; monitoring will continue for groundwater contamination from the area of two removed trichloroethane tanks in Building 005; monitoring of a plume of contaminated groundwater in the north parking lot area; monitoring of an inactive septic system in Building 031; monitoring of groundwater from pipes used to process acetone and isopropyl alcohol in Building B005S; and monitoring of groundwater from sewer lines believed to have leaked Freon in the past but which not been detected for several years.

IBM, which sold the property in 1998 to Ginsberg for $3.1 million, remains responsible for cleanup efforts. Contamination at TechCity was discovered by IBM in 1978, when it operated a 7,000-employee computer testing operation at the site. However, the extent of contamination had not been made public until about two years ago when TechCity was required to file environmental impact statements for the zoning change.

State officials report there are still four sections of the property where decisions have yet to reach on contamination, including one section that has yet to be evaluated because it is inaccessible under building B001 near the front of Tech City.

Other investigations are ongoing for sections of sewer lines that are currently inaccessible, the area where a 2,000-gallon waste oil tank was removed, and a subsurface oil and water separator tank that was removed from Building 031 but for which no records can be found.

The report summary also notes the property has health risks for people working at the site if they come in contact with subsurface soils or ground water.

"There is a potential for exposure to site-related contaminants through dermal contract with contaminated groundwater by workers installing footings for new-building construction or installing/repairing utilities within the confines of or in close proximity to the areal extent of the groundwater plume," officials wrote.

"Throughout the site, with the exception of (the far southeastern area) invasive activities below 1 foot have the potential to result in dermal contact with contaminated soils and in inhalation of contaminated soil particles by the workers," they wrote.